Paragray

The bus got into Iguazu late in the afternoon and being on the bus for that long basically even though I was sleeping very well it was tiring. In addition to that the weather when I got to Iguazu was pouring with rain. So I decided to go to sleep for the remainder of the day and enjoy the air-conditioning which was making a puddle on the floor next to my bed. I had a walk around the town in between the sleeping and dreaming which didn't end up being much really.. The town itself was like 2 streets that was about it. The city or town on the Argentine side called Puerto Iguazu isn't that big or that populated. But it had it's special charm I think being that small it had a small town feel even though it was actually on the border of the biggest country in South America.

Then next day upon hearing about the great shopping opportunity in Paraguay I went there to have a look for myself.. It was in my mind similar to that of China.. All the street vendors you can imagine selling all the electrical gadgets you can imagine heaps of cameras and cellphones.. But I was struggling to want to buy anything there, for the fear that it would break on me within 5 minutes of buying it.

Alas... There was a small shop with a nice well strange old lady selling steak spaghetti for a reasonable price which i decided to have lunch at. It was quite amazing lunch I have to admit for the price that it was somewhere in the realm of NZ$3 there was a huge plate of spaghetti and a hefty serving of steak with it.

Oh I almost forgot about the issues at the Paraguayan border. My god it was amazing how horrible that was. I went on the bus from Argentina to Paraguay right, which went through brazil without stopping at immigration which I found was quite strange but anyway... I got to Paraguay and thought i'd be a respectable individual and go to the border control to sort out the stamp and visa issue.. I had heard from everyone else that there would be no charge for the visa if you were staying for less than 1 day in the territory but the guy at immigration told me I had to pay him US$30 for a stamp to enter..

After a couple of the guys who were on the bus with me at the time, who could speak spanish talked to the guy and asked to speak to the supervisor and I refused to pay the amount. The supervisor told him to stamp my passport anyway with the visa and told me that I would not be allowed to go 100 km into the country but would be able to stay in the shopping area for 1 day.. This made me very weary of the Paraguayan immigration and their way of making money for themselves by tricking tourists into paying for a visa when they don't necessary need one.

Just another thing to keep in mind at border crossing around the world no matter where you are.

Iguazu, Argentina

ok so Iguazu falls from the Argentinean side.. I didn't actually realized this but some of the girls that was in the hostel in BA was in Iguazu as well the 2 australian girls specifically Julia and Hannah they were really fun so we decided to go to the falls together.

We did the jungle trail which was chosen by all of us as the most exciting as there was a rubber boat that we boarded and we saw alot of the wild life around the falls. It was also the one we chose because Julia had another adventure booked for that afternoon.. To get to the start of the tour we were supposed to take a train but we being adventurous thought that we'd walk along side the train tracks which was recommended by Julia as we would have to wait around 15 minutes for the train otherwise.. There was mud everywhere and water and pot holes basically it wasn't the best way to get there and mid way though the train went past as we were dodging everything.. We got to the start it was pretty cool.. I worked out an ingenious way of keeping our cameras dry but still being able to take photos on the water.. We actually got to see a crocodile and all sorts of spiders and stuff.. It was quite amazing I can't remember everything about what the tour guide said but it was pretty interesting..

After the eco tour Julia left us and went to her adventure and left me and Hannah to do the rest of the park it was pretty cool.. We went for a giant walk around and ended up at the part where we do the jet boat under the falls it was amazing but very very very wet.. There is a video of us under the falls. We for another walk on the other side of island which was cool as well as there was a vulture at the top of the mountain ish thing.. We then went back to catch the bus back to the hostel as it was getting late.

When Julia got back and we had all had a shower and stuff we went out for dinner. I had a giant steak and they both had salad I think but we polished off a bottle of wine which was pretty nice. It was a very nice meal I have to say. The girls were going back to BA the next day as they were going to Uruguay then to Paris.

But for me the falls at Iguazu were still not finished as I have still not been to the devils throat it was amazing when I got there you could never imagine how fierce water can be there was back spray as high as a 3 story building. I was amazed I didn't know that water was able to defy the laws of gravity. In this place it was able to water was actually traveling upward instead of down. It was worth the ticket price just to see this. Anyways after this I ended my stay in Iguazu and went onto a place in the north western part of Argentina called Salta.

Colonia, Uguraray

ok I think I'm supposed to write about Colonia .. A fascinating place but not quite as fascinating as the place I'm writing this blog post at.. I'm on a train from Nice to Milan and there is power plugs and a table for me to write this blog post it's actually quite cool.. I have to say.. Alright back to my blog post which is supposed to be about Colonia.

Colonia is a small town in Ururgray across the bay from Buenos Aires, Argentina. I went with a couple of guys I met from the hostel. We had heard from other people that have been to Colonia before that we were able to rent a golf cart and drive around the entire city for around US$40.. So we decided to rent one and have abit of fun with it.. Actually I think the exact words we were told about the experience was the terrify the residents of colonia by hooning around.. The only problem with what we were told was that what they ment by hoon was actually only 40km/h which isn't fast at all... but ya know..

We went along the beach part of town cause I thought that there'd be somewhere cool to get something to eat.. but since we'd already eaten in the town of colonia. It was alright.. We actually managed to find the place where they had bull fights.. It was falling apart and probably neglected for a very long time but it was still pretty cool to see... It was fenced off but we broke in anyway and I went to the top of the crumbling stairs and got a photo before I was too scared to go any further and were told by the guys that I was traveling with that I was insane.. Actually looking back on it.. I don't quite know how I managed to get the courage to do that, when I'm usually the last one to do anything at home.

Well after that debacle we went back toward the ocean and got to the end where previously we saw a man with his horses at the side of the road.. One of the group whom knew spanish went and asked the man how much it was for a horse ride. The answer was ARP$3 for an hour.. So we all said yes for the ride on the horses to which the guy took us around to where the sheraton hotel started and went on the beach then when back to where we parked our golf cart... It was one memorable part of the trip to which I named my horse "George"... We went to a bar near the ferry terminal for a beer then went back to Buenos Aires that night... The next day was to be my last day in buenos aires.

On the last day I went to La Bolca the place where the soccer team of buenos aires plays home games. It was amazing and full of color and life.. Although you could definitely tell that it was a tourist town with all the people dressed in tango gear and wanting to take a photo of you in hopes of charging you around ARP$10 for it. I guess that wasn't too bad to get your photo taken with a really hot tango dancer but the problem was the need to have to pay for the privilege it's almost like paying for a hooker. For that reason alone I didn't like the concept.

But after that I went and caught a train out to the suburbs to have a look at how actual argentine people live and its a very strange mix of life I have to say. There was people selling every kind of thing you can imagine ranging from toothpaste to light bulbs.. Yelling and screaming on the train and the one that amazed me the most was the man who was blasting his radio with argentine songs and then asking people for money for the privilege of hearing music on the train.. I didn't understand this one.. But you know.. Normal life in Argentina I think maybe quite grueling, from what I saw there was noticeable poverty in the suburbs but then again I didn't really go into the suburbs to really see the difference..

This adventure will be left until next time I think. I went back to the city, got my bags and went to catch my overnight bus to Iguazu.

Buenos Aires

The bus ride to Buenos Aires was pretty cool.. There was Champaign, Hot food snacks and all sorts of stuff served on the bus for free which was what they called a cama bus.. It wasn't bad at all.. I liked it alot. The seats are better than my couch at home and I was sitting in the front seat the panoramic seats... mean that's how good they were and I ain't kidding.. Anyways I got to BA and and went straight to the hostel with the instructions I was given and asked the guy at the desk so many questions about the city he lives in, that I think he got a little annoyed at me as according to him my view of BA wasn't as it should be, this was the direct result of my reading my lonely planet instead of asking a local person. After all of this I decided to go back to the area around the bus station which i saw had quite good food for a very cheap price. I think it was around ARP$10 which is around NZD$3 for a Steak and some mash.. It wasn't bad at all.. I think this is the only time I was actually ready and willing to give a tip to the guy who was serving me the food as he was quite nice and I knew how much he was being paid which wasn't much at all.. I walked around the city and went on the underground and basically explored a little, on the way back to the hostel I managed to come across a replica of big ben which was under restoration so I couldn't go up but it was pretty cool. The people and culture around the city was evident that is to say that there's people on the side of the street selling anything from hot dogs to socks to electrical goods.. It was amazing and very exciting for me as it reminded me somewhat of the lifestyle in china and hong kong. The second day around midday I headed to the ecological park which was a main part of the city and it surrounded most of the waterfront of the city. As I entered the park I found a caged area with animals which I didn't expect and have never seen before in real life an owl.. It was funny.. It didn't move or anything but it was pretty exciting to see it for the first time. Afterward on my way around the park I was approached by an american lady whom was wanting to know where the exit to the park was and basically to cut things short... Her and her sister accompanied me to the top of a building in downtown BA for a drink, from where you could see the entire city. I stayed to see part of the sunset and to see the city's lights being switched on.. It was beautiful. There will be pictures now since I actually have a laptop that works. The old one decided that it wouldn't comply and basically ate some of my photos... The next day would be probably the funniest for those of you who know me and how dumb I am with international celebrities of history... OK do you know who Evita is.. Well if you know you're lucky but you're not allowed to give the reason that you learned about her in the movie featuring Madonna.. This is not a valid reason for knowing who she is.. Well as for me.. I hadn't even seen the film let alone knew about this person in any way shape or form.. Anyways.. I was told that if I was to learn anything whilst in BA I should go find out Evita.. So I decided to devote an entire day to this woman.. First was Recoleta the place where she is now resting in peace after being returned by the military.. Argentina has had some of the most interesting history I have ever come across.. The life of Evita is amazing I shall tell you more when I remember again.. It's been around 2 and a half months since this event.. But I will tell you for the time being I shall tell you the places I visited whilst on my day of evita.. Well after the cemetery I went to try and find the memorial but was not ever able to find it after asking many people where it was and also the police they were not able to tell me specifically where it was so I headed for the Museum of Evita and spent the rest of the day there reading and looking and trying to understand the political climate of the time. Evita is probably the most loved woman in Argentina on a similar par to that of Princess Diana in Britain. In essence or in my view I think she changed Argentina forever before and after her death to cancer.. So that was my day of Evita.. So... Upon returning to the hostel I met some of the guys who were staying there and an irish girl in the same dorm. It was her last day in argentina and basically she wanted to go out and have a night on the town.. So we all decided to join her in this momentous occasion. So we headed out on the town but what did we find nothing was open after all the hype that we'd be given about the night life in BA it was a disappointment but still we had a good time and good laughs.. It was interesting... This has brought us all to swear that we're not going to trust an irish girl to lead us to the best club in town. LOL... The following day, we were told about a great place to go to see the main road of BA which has 12 lanes of traffic.. But it was at a hotel the Panamerican in which we would have to sneak through security and the people at the bar to get a look down the street.. Anyways we all got past the lobby and ended up at the top of the building but were told that we were not allowed to take photos.. But did we of course we did.. The results were amazing we had good photos.. After which we went to try and find some contemporary museums and managed to find one which wasn't bad called jose mendez.. After the museum we all decided that we wanted to go to Colonia, Uruguay for a day.. So we went to buy tickets and so forth.. It was quite cool.. The next day we set out for Colonia.. Which will be the next installment.. Please call 1800-buy-tsz in the next 10 minutes and you're receive not 1 but 2 books of his travels around the world.. But wait there's more if you call now you will not only get the next installment but all the back catalogue of his travels from when he was a baby.. alright enough of informercials.. On to the next part of the trip...

Bariloche and surrounding National Park

oh... Bariloche
It was almost my dream really is how beautiful this town is. Set by the lake with water so clear you can see to the bottom of it about 20 meters down, this is a little bit of an exaggeration but still it was pretty cool. The first day I got there I was determined to try the Argentine special which was anything Carne (Meat) related. I went to a restaurant which was the cheapest and most amazing in town it was amazing how good the steak was. Juicy as much as you can imagine with a perfect sauce on top. To top this all of the beer was alright but very very cheap. I think the entire meal cost around ARP$35. This is such a bargain. On this night there was another guy eating alone at the bar bench. He was from the States his name is Jason, we hit it off talking about stuff and before you knew it the night was coming to an end at around mid-night this is the Argentinean way. Anyway before the end more American girls one of which was the cutiest thing i'd ever seen came up to us and started talking to us so what became of it was both of us got their telephone numbers... Ok to those of you who know me this doesn't happen to me very often when girls actually give me their number, usually it is me that asks and they usually never reply to me afterward. But I had a good feeling about this one.. :-p jason and I had plans to explore the town the morning after.

After such a cool night the night before I woke up at around 9am and started my day by waiting for Jason to arrive so we could go hiking.. At midday after waiting nearly 4 hours I gave up and went downtown to find food after which I bumped into him in the small town. He actually was trying to find where I was staying but he ended up finding the wrong place Bariloche Hotel instead of Bariloche Hostel. Anyways to cut things short we basically went around the town, got all the information we needed and did some price comparisons around town of rental car agencies for a rental car for a day. We ended up sorting everything and got the car that night after dinner. We set off the next day at 5am with Maté in hand and a Chevy Corsa started our journey around the National Park around Bariloche.

This place seriously was something else on earth. There was a different landscape every corner you turn from lush rain-forest type surroundings to desert to lakes and then finally to forests again. It just amazing the different landscapes contained in this little area.. By small area I mean around 400kms. This is the distance we covered in a day. It was probably the most beautiful I'd seen so far. Upon returning the car to the rental agency I have to say I have never seen someone check the car so throughly as this guy.. Everything from oil to the under carriage to the spare tire. It was insane how hard he was looking for a fault. Oh well then again I guess it was Argentina. Something you learn I guess.. I vowed that next time I rent a car I will be taking photos of the entire car from every angle and marking everything thats wrong with it on the rental agreement to avoid arguments later. Pretty cool really and successful,, The entire rental I think cost around ARP$300 for the entire day which is so cheap that price was including petrol which only amounted to about ARP$50.. Oh how I wish that's the price of petrol at home again...

For dinner we had Wild Boar to celebrate which was pretty cool.. The next day I went on a 24 hour bus ride to Buenos Aires the Federal Capital of Argentina and home of a person called Evita which I hadn't ever heard of before.

Castro to Bariloche

ok so castro to bariloche.. Well theres a story that isn't that pretty on this trip of a life time. Reflecting upon the experience I think it was sort of funny but still it was pretty scary at the time. Ok so basically it was the scariest night of my entire life. Mom and Dad if you're reading this it has happened already so your son is still alive and well in Lima, Peru.. Anyways continuing with the story. Why I had this experience was because I was being cheap and wasn't thinking. I was trying to avoid the ATM charge but ended up spending alot more with not much reward. Well I went from Chiloe to Puerto Montt hoping to catch the bus to Bariloche the same day with the connect being around 2 hours apart. Sure the bus had to get there just as the bus was leaving. So I couldn't go get money or pay by credit card such is south america.

Anyways I was being cheap so decided to stay a night in Puerto Montt in which lonely planet recommended not to as it wasn't the best town in the world basically it is just a port city with nothing more than that. The hostel I stayed at was recommended by the bus station attendent in which he said it was cheap and nice. It cost CHP$5000 a night which did not include breakfast. That wasn't so much the problem.

The problem was the room itself. It was the exact size of a jail cell with a jail cell sized window looking toward the wall of the opposite building. In addition to this there was blood stains on the door and on the toilet which wasn't very pleasent. Apart from that the own of this particular hostel demanded the keys to my room at 10pm and proceeded to prevent me from locking the door or leave the house at will. Then he told me to turn off the lights to my room at the same time which was really crazy but you know. I was really worried at that point so ignored his yelling and screaming.. I left at around 5am for the bus station which even though it wasn't the best looking place ever it was relatively so much better than the hostel. anyways that ends that story about the nights stay.

The bus ride across the andes for the first time was so amazing. It was raining so couldn't see so much on the Chilian side of the boarder but on the Argentinan side the bus driver decided to allow me to sit in the jump seat at the front of the bus to admire the view of the surroundings. It was amazing such bright colors and landscapes like you wouldn't believe. As you approach the city of Bariloche you come into view of the lake with a swiss resort like town on the opposite side. You drive though the National Park before reaching the town. I think the only way that I maybe able to describe the scenery is with that of the scenery of Milford Sound.

It was that beautiful..

So next Bariloche.. I'm trying to catch up with my blog so this is all in review.. Sorry peoples I've been a little busy and also without internet for a very long time.

The last little while

he last little whileOk so developments so far from the trip. Well it's been a little while since my last post as the internet hasn't been very good here in the southern part of Chile and Argentina. I have arrived in the capital of Argentina a city you may know as Buenos Aires or B.A. to the locals. It's a very very very very very large city. But before I tell you about the current city. There's all the other bits that need to be addressed first starting from Chiloe, Chile. I arrived in the town of Ancud, Chiloe from Puerto Varas. It was the most beautiful little town you could think of and the place I booked to stay wow. Sea views from window to window. It was amazing, i loved it so much but unfortunately the bed bugs also liked me a little too much. They ate me alive I didn't like that so much but you know what ya going to do really, oh and the guy that was sleeping in the next bed was a really loud snorer. I didn't get much sleep but the owner was really nice and offered a private room to the guy who snored so I could get a good nights' rest. The town of Ancud has an old fort which I went to visit it was quite a sight in itself there wasn't much left apart from the outline of the structure with cannons and stuff facing the inlet to the harbour. I actually didn't find the fort at first but went to a lookout that saw over the entire bay area which was amazing it looked like Great Barrier Island at home it was wonderful to see something similar again. I also managed to get some oysters at the local market which was not as I imagined them. I imagined the Pacific Oyster as we were on the coast of the pacific ocean but no they were more like Bluff Oysters but they weren't that nice really. Maybe I got them off season or something.. Anyways I cooked by myself for the first time since I got to south america and it was my favourite dish Spaghetti Bolognese, actually it's not my favourite it's just the simplest thing I can be bothered to cook. It wasn't bad though I shall find the photo and post it sometime since I have now bought myself a card reader for a ridiculous price but I needed it I was running out of space. So that was sort of my stay in Ancud except the part about the American girl and lunch together at the seafood restaurant. She reminded me of Justine, anyway save that story for another time I guess. Ok on to the privincial capital of Chiloe I guess you can call it Castro. It's quite a nice town Castro but there are certain things that you would want to forget about going. So first is toss out your lonely planet guide book as it is sort of useless for anything south of Pucón as I have found out the hard way. It's not the best book for it seriously. The bar or cafe that it recommended, when we went there sure the décor was nice the bar was an old boat I mean that's pretty impressive but the service was just shit really. They didn't have any beers at the bar and the wine well the bar manager didn't know the price of the bottle of wine we chose. So, we left and as we left he swore at us in English the only words he seemed to know I guess. But was laughed as it was actually quite funny that a bar can run out of beer. Imagine it happening to Shadows I'm pretty sure that there would be riots in the quad. But ya know, this is an island off the coast of Chile. Oh and don't bother trying to find Vicks in South America it doesn't exist instead they have something called Halls which isn't really the same but it does the job and is about a third of the price. So Castro had it's charming parts for example the hostel was the most comfortable I'd had since I got to South America and amazingly cheap too. It was CHP5000 for a night in a double bed with cable tv, it didn't have much of a view or heating but I was fine with it, it's a room to myself hell no I ain't going to complain. Although there is one thing you can complain about the hostel and that is how much laundry cost it was more than a nights stay at the hostel. The reason why I had to get all my clothes washed was because of the fleas. Damn they suck.. Castro offered some interesting outings to the surrounding area as well, but I don't think that it's that amazing. I went for a 2 hour bus ride onto another island off the coast of Chiloe which is billed to be the wonderful sleepy land of the ferries. But I didn't get that sense whilst I was there but maybe that's because I went there in the off season and nothing was open and the lady at the store tried to charge me CHP500 for a coke which specifically said it was CHP400 I know that isn't much to me being a New Zealander paying in NZD but I just wasn't thinking about that. The ones reading this that know me will know how I feel about stuff like that. Ok so that was Chiloe nearly I guess.. One side note that I will mention is that the main export of Chile is actually Salmon, not that any of it is consumed in Chile. I found out that all the Salmon that is dished up in Chile is actually stolen from the Salmon farms in the region or gathered after an accident with the transporting trucks. As strange as that sounds there is a lot of accidents in Chile. I have seen 3 since I've been here it's quite sad and annoying really. Ok I think I've typed quite enough tonight and it's midnight and everyones out drinking, but I think I'm going to go to bed given that I spent most of last night sleeping on a bus. I had quite a good sleep because the size of the seat is the size of my couch at home. So I mean who wouldn't but then again it just doesn't compare to a real bed if you know what I mean. So.. I shall continue with my story or there abouts' tomorrow from Castro to Puerto Montt to Bariloche to Buenos Aires. Till then..

Chile Part 3

So, it´s raining again outside for some reason and it´s horrible and cold.. I want to be in the house but I must push on to the next destination today in an hour or so the bus leaves this little town called Puerto Varas through a small city called Puerto Montt for the island of Chiloe.

Well to start I think I should tell you all about the journey on the bus I had coming from Pucon. Got up at 7 for the bus at 8.10 to Puerto Varas right.. Got ready and everything checked out and did all that stuff arrived at the bus stop on time and boarded the bus. It wasn´t a very pleasent looking bus but you would expect that I guess. About an 2 hours into our journey the back seats of the bus started to smoke and this was heavy smoke not your normal smokers on the bus kind of smoke. So all the locals that were sitting in the back came rushing to the front of the bus. I was seated around middle of the bus, saw and smelt everything. My god the stench was like burning plastic or something.. Anyways I think it was the heating on the bus that was causing the problem. The bus driver stopped the bus in the middle of the highway and started looking around to see what was wrong. Of course he couldn´t find anything wrong, by this time the smoke had already stopped pouring out of whereever as the heating wasn´t on anymore as the bus wasn´t moving. So we started off down the road again, again the smoke comes billowing out of the back seats. The conductor then goes to sort it out armed with a swiss army knife. Anyways after alot of fiddling the bus is stopped on the side of the highway again this time with almost everyone leaving the bus to the relative safety of the side of the highway.. A couple minutes later we were told to board the bus again and again we started off toward our destination. The emergency windows open full to ventilate the bus and get rid of the smoke that was still lingering. My god that was quite an interesting ride.

I thought a couple moments there that it would be like the stagecoach buses in Auckland that seem just to magically erupt into flames of fire. Anyways maybe that´s just my imagination at work. But we arrived eventually at a town called Valdivia and were told to change buses. Now this was a brand new bus I think it was much more comfortable and more like the price we paid which was 5,900. So that was the first bad experience on a bus in Chile.

As I said earlier I´m in Puerto Varas, it´s about 30 minutes by bus to get to the bigger city of Puerto Montt which is billed at the gateway to Patagonia which is where I want to go. So I went and checked out the prices from here to Chiloe, which is an island off the coast of Chile which is billed to have the most wonderful seafood and the most number of UNESCO protected churches anywhere in the world. There is a town called Castro, that where I´m going at a cost of 5,000 which includes a ferry ride across the channel. Not that it matters right now as it is cold and there isn´t anything to see. I hope the weather clears up or else I will be in Puerto Varas maybe for another day, which isn´t really what I want to do.

I checked out to prices for the ferry from Quillon to Chailten it was 17,500 for a 5 hour ferry ride then from there to bigger city is 18,000 I don´t know if it will be worth it just to see a glacier. I think I should see what happens but definately I´m going to Chiloe today or tomorrow and will sort of what to do from there if I do decide not to go any further south then I will go to Argentina and see what its like in Bariloche and then from there to Bueno Aires.

So not many dramatic stories these couple of days but then again I did get the best meat on a stick anywhere in the world yesterday outside the main bus terminal in Puerto Montt for 300 my god they were wonderful. Don´t know what the meat was but it was good. I want more.. Oh speaking of food, I had the most wonderful sourgrot outside of germany when I arrived in Puerto Varas which has aparantly a very large german population.. I don´t think it does some how from what I can see but there is definately a feel of being in Barvaria here as the architecture is very similar.

Ok I´ve written way too much photos are to come soon. Gotta get that stupid adaptor for 10,000 so not good. Stupid Sony cameras...

Chile Part 2

Well part 2 it begins.. I'm currently in a little tourist town called Pucón about 9 hours south of Santiago. It was an overnight bus ride from the big smoke. Ok you might find that my writing is better in this post for now (those of you that complained about the last one would appreciate this I guess). Well not to tell you about Pucón yet but tell you about what happened in Santiago before I came. Well the as I said before it was an overnight bus from Santiago, the bus was scheduled to leave Station Alimeda at 23.45. I knew this would be quite late to try and catch the train from the hostel, as there was a big concert on that night so I booked the taxi for 11. Giving me an hour to get there, but as it is Chile they tend to think that time is not of the essence. So I waited until 23.25 for the taxi and finally it arrived and by this time there wasn't too much traffic on the street. But this delay gave me only 20 minutes to get there. I learnt how to say the word for fast fast fast and I kept on saying it to the guy "Rapido, rapido, rapido" and man I'm never saying that to a chilian taxi driver again. He drives even worse than me seriously, on little tiny streets similar to those in ponsonby he was going maybe 150km/hr. I was scared i only say maybe because I looked over his shoulder to see what the actual speed was, only to find that the speedo doesn't actually work as it was showing 20km/hr. Anyways so they do get you there on time but it just might make you piss your pants.

Ok so onto the more interesting stuff here. I have been in Pucón now for around 2 days as the weather has been quite horrible and I have not been able to do much. Lounging around the hostel planning my trip has been a highlight, and also the girls that run to hostel make it really easy to waste away the days. One is from Quebec City in Canada and the other is from Bonn, Germany. So as many of you will know I'm somewhat in heaven. Anyways, enough of that. I went to the Hotsprings here in Pucón last night it wasn't bad but it wasn't on par with Rotorua for the price I guess but it was interesting to see how tourism works in another country. I think I might have caught a cold from having to walk 150m from one rock pool to the other, but I have to say it was immensely enjoyable given that you were allowed to bring your own alcohol to drink in the hot springs. Oh just as a side note my god.. the grog here is cheap as peanuts seriously. A bottle of 770mL pisco which is the local spirit brew is around 33 proof. It was 1700 pasoes which is around NZ$6 it's amazing so I have been drinking that all the time it's amazing I don't think I want to leave just for that. LOL.. But I better be quick about finishing this post as the laptop is about to run out of juice. Ok so I've covered pisco and the hot-springs we shall move on to my most favorite part of any country "FOOD".

So I said I was going to cook 1 meal a day since I'm out of the city, so i've been cooking breakfast at the hostel. Today I cooked sausages and Eggs for breakfast, since I wasn't used to using gas I nearly singed my eyebrows off trying to light the stove which wasn't that funny although it was an experience. Anyways after I finished cooking this perfect meal in the pan I went to take it out and the stupid handle is broken on the pan so it swiveled and burned my hand so stupid human reactions decided to flip the eggs straight in the air and onto the ground. So after all that hard work I ended up losing most of the eggs I cooked 4 and ended up with maybe 1.5 needless to say I wasn't happy at all but I guess you gotta learn somehow right. Ok now on to more good parts of my food experiences. Here in Pucón there is a restaurant called Rap its a local burger joint, if you will and they serve the best burgers in the world I would go as far as to say. Last night I had a chicken burger which I will get again tonight for dinner. It was 2700 pasoes which is reasonable I guess in NZ$ think burger fuel but 2 times larger and with double the filling like an entire avocado, half a lettuce, half a chicken and tomato and all the chili you want. My god that was just heaven and for me a big boy with some would call an endless stomach, I was stuff and could nearly not walk out of the place to get home. It was wonderful and there's more wonderful to come yet. I found this old lady on the street that sells mixed vegetables in a bag, my god she's the cutest lady you can find apart from my grandma of course. I didn't have enough change to buy the bag which was 600 pasoes I only had a 10,000 note and 500 change I gave her the 500 and some loose stuff and she gave it to me without even asking for more. Anyways long story short I felt bad so when I finished buying stuff at the supermarket and got some change I gave her the rest of what I owed her and she was so surprised. She was even more surprised when today I went back to her little stall and bought another bag and this time Emma the girl from the hostel was with me and she helped me ask her for a photo she looked so happy, you could be mistaken in thinking that she just won the lottery. I love little old ladies, they're just the cutest thing. Anyway I think I've bored all of you enough, and I will apologize for this again as I'm in a little town there isn't much in terms of cable buying facilities so I have not been able to grab any of the photos off my camera so no photos in this post "Sorry" but I will try my best to get some photos up as soon as I can and my mac has just informed me that I have 10 minutes until I'm out of juice. So.. I better go and do something with me life and get back to being a professional traveller. Take care all of you.. Maybe I'll be bitten by someone soon, I am in an area full of bees and the land where PDA is more normal than sheep shagging. Ok if you don't know what PDA stands for look it up or it'll be in my next post. Ciao

Chile Part 1

So... first post of my trip around the world and what would you know I´m in Santiago, Chile on the 3rd full day of my trip around the world... You may ask what have I been doing for the past 3 days.. Well I have walked so much these couple days I have probably done more walking than an entire year in NZ, but as most of you who read this know I don´t tend to walk anywhere in Auckland.. I have seen the main Plaza where the government buildings are they´re amazing are in similar style I think to the ones I saw in europe and the markets here are similar to the ones found in asia. They´re fill with everything you can imagine from food to clothing to bleders. Speaking of blenders did you know that there´s an entire street in Santiago decicated to just the sale and repair of blenders it´s amazing. theres just shop after shop filled with blenders. They must really love their blending here :-) OK on to the food and experiences of travelling alone.. On the 2 day I got into Chile I met a really nice girl from Australia she´d been here for a while so she took me around the town showing me the sites and informing me what I should do about travelling safe and everything it´s quite nice to meet people like that when you´re one of those people that hasn´t travelled to many places around the world that is quite in similarity to Santiago and well most of South America. Anyways we went to the top of a monument in the centre of town with allowed you to look over the city.. Seriously I couldn´t see much of the city at all, the visibility was maybe 3km, the smog was so bad.. But you could see all the building aroudn the city which is quite siilar to Auckland I guess. There´s old buildings and new buildings the funny thing is that some of them are half old and half new.. Enough about buildings and sights lets talk about the food as most of you know içm quite a fan of food. The first experience of chilian food was in a little restrant in the bank district. Walked in and the place was rally flash or anything similar to a diner in the states I guess. The waiter is dressed in a tux, i couldnçt believe it the waiter in a diner is dressed in a tux.. now that is class. anyway i ordered a pico sour not knowing what it is apart from that itçs a chilian speciality. this is one of the most amazing drinks you will ever try itçs alcoholic but itçs sour as well itçs amazing, i wouls say that the pisco sour is second only to its cholocately cousin which i donçt rememebr the name of (i´ll find the name of it tomorrow and tell you all), so we ordered our meals she had pork and i had pollo which is chicken. The chicken wasnçt great but it was alright jono you would like the chicken here itçs breast and all breast, me i like the most saucy bits of a chicken usually what europeans donçt like. Anyways if you have a meal here theres always bread included and salsa my god the salsa here is amazing itçs so much better than the stuff you get at home which is just tomato and that it mostly. Here itçs full of herbs and sauce that you can dip your bread into itçs so amazing and to top it all of itçs just spicy enough to give you a kick but it wouldnçt slap you to the floor like the stuff at the mexican cafe. Just devine is what I would say about it. After we finish and went to get the bill the waiter took our plates and came back with a drink which was very unusual he gave us a desert wine of some sort which is wonderful it was similar to an ice wine ummm...... so yum... We jsut couldnçt believe our luck in finding this place amazing first meal in Chile and itçs hard not to fall in love with a city like this when the people are so friendly. The most amazing thing was the price, man it was cheap it was way too cheap for what we had it was 8450 paseos which is maybe 15 dollars for the entire meal including drinks. That was the first day, but that night i got shit faced, it was fun but the hangover was horrible and i distinctly remember the guy who ran the hostel teaching me to say i have a pink dick in spanish so i donçt think the alcohol helped in this sense. But today is a new day and Içm going to find myself some breakfast and then off to the bus station to change my ticket as I bought a ticket to the middle of no-where not knowing that thereçs no where to stay and nothing to do. So going to try and get to pucon by tomorrow morning to see the mountains trying to make my way down to Ushaia. Shoudl be interesting wish me lcuk and i willt ry to keep you informed about what is happening. And sorry about this Alex Içve just basically written another book..

Itinerary

Ok as popularly requested
None of the dates are set so I will give you the destinations first and edit the dates as and when I know them.

2 April, 2008
Auckland, New Zealand - Santiago, Chile

Santiago, Chile - Sao Paulo, Brazil
Sao Paulo, Brazil - Lima, Peru
Lima, Peru - Mexico City, Mexico
Mexico City, Mexico - Dallas, Texas, US
Dallas, Texas, US - Vancouver, Canada
Vancouver, Canada - New York City, New York, US
New York City, New York, US - Miami, Florida, US
Miami, Florida, US - San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan, Puerto Rico - Madrid, Spain
Madrid, Spain -> London, England
London, England - Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Dubai, United Arab Emirates - Hong Kong City, Hong Kong
Hong Kong City, Hong Kong - Mumbai (Bombay), India
Mumbai (Bombay), India - Bangkok, Thailand
Bangkok, Thailand - Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo, Japan - Bali, Indonesia
Bali, Indonesia - Perth, Australia
Perth, Australia - Brisbane, Australia

1 April, 2009
Brisbane, Australia - Auckland, New Zealand

Preparation for the trip

Well the preparation for the trip could have gone better but it's been an experience in itself. Who would have thought that in New Zealand of all developed places you cannot find a power adaptor that is NZ to universal.. They only seem to sell wherever in the world to NZ. So that's a little hick up. (umm maybe I should import some and sell them, I bet ya I might be rich) oh well that's obviously not going to happen now given that all of you know about my secret plan.. Anyway.. Enough of my ranting, on to the apologizing. So I am truly sorry if I didn't get to meet up with the ones of you that I was meant to.. I have been extremely busy with work right up until 4 days before I left and then I was packing and sorting stuff out like accommodation. Alas if you do get time and don't hate me forever you could send me your address and I will try my best to send you a postcard from wherever I am around the world. So if you're ever thinking about going away on holiday for as long as I'm be better prepared than I am. Currently my pack is 22 kgs and it's full of stuff. I'm quite prepared in the emergency medical department given that I have almost everything from an ER. A full first-aid kit kindly donated by a dear friend of mine, which seriously is taken up half my pack but still, you can never be too cautious. Other things that are in my pack. Well more medical related stuff. I have a box of medication like seriously large box of medication which the doctors at uni prescribed me which includes 4 kinds of diarrhea medication, itch cream, malaria tablets, hydration packs, pain killers and much much more. I have a sleeping bag, can opener, and toiletries. The clothes I have is pretty good. They should be what I need. One thing I will mention is that in hind sight I might have sold my dignity for a t-shirt hey but it's a chance for my 15 minutes of fame right. I got a T-shirt from bFM for free in exchange for taking photos of myself around the world with it. Which should be quite cool I rekon given that I went to the university that it's broadcasting from and work for the association that owns them I guess I'm only helping them out. Apart from that the preparation for the trip is just basically looking online for cool stuff to see and do. Actually this might be the right time to open up this call to all the people who read this blog. If you have any suggestions of what I should do around the world email me so I can see if I can do it. And I think I have ranted enough tonight, there will most probably be another post tomorrow before I leave at 6.30pm NZ time. Oh one last thing. I can't believe it I'm going to arrive in Chile before I leave NZ it's crazy I love it.. Now why didn't I go on my birthday???